The Fall of Arcadia
by ConEmber
Summary: Fair warning to all of you sub watchers, I use the dub names for the few actual 5D's characters that appear. Ryan Drak and his cousin Maddy are both good duelists with futures that are probably promising. Arcadia decides to mess with the wrong family though as Ryan's sister is kidnapped and they have to work with their cards and allies to get her back from the psychic organization
1. The Start

I grinned as I sent my second to last opponent's life points down to zero.

"And it seems that Ryan has beaten down Morris and is advancing to the finals against Maddy." The announcer of this event said into his mic.

I waited in my spot for my cousin to take her place on the other side of the dueling ring. "This is going to be a great match, folks. We have crowd favorite, maiden of the blue eyes, Maddy Rosa, facing off against the guy with gemini, Ryan Drak. The prize for this duel is a chance to face off against duel monsters champion Jack Atlas!" The announcer was hyping up the crowd as Maddy stood in her corner.

Maddy smiled at me. "Just like when we were kids!" She laughed.

"Except now we're on an even playing field." I said as I shuffled my deck and put it into my duel disk.

"Maddie is taking the initiative and going first." The announcer said as we started.

"I set a monster and one other card." Maddy said as she did her move.

I looked at my hand and smiled. "I play Catalyst field and summon Evocator Chevalier twice, and equip him with Supervise." The flaming warrior sprouted up in front of me and his fists ignited with his second summon. "I activate his effect and send Supervise to the graveyard to destroy your trap." I explained as I destroyed her mirror force. "And now Evocator Chevalier will attack your face down monster. Burning sabre fist!" I yelled as the card flipped up and the white stone was cut in half. "I end my turn." "And that lets me summon a Blue-Eyes to the field in attack mode." She said as the shining dragon flew upwards from the ground. "And it's going to attack Chevalier. White Lightning." She said as the Blue-eyes decimated my monster.

 _'Well, this isn't great.'_ I thought to myself. I looked to my hand for something. "I play Crusader of Endymion in attack mode and summon him again." I played the monster and his large armor pieces burst off his arms and floated nearby. "I end my turn."

"I summon my own Crusader and now I attack with Blue-Eyes." The Crusader fell and I took the damage. "Now, Endymion, attack directly." The monster reeled back its hand and sent a barrage of glowing magic circles at me, dropping me down to zero.

"And that, folks, is why you don't mess with dragons." The announcer said. "Maddy will be moving on to the final round against Jack Atlas!"

I sighed sadly. "Well, this sucks." I said. "Good luck." I told my cousin.

"Thanks!" She yelled back excitedly.

"She'll need it." Jack said as he started to climb up the stairs to my side of the dueling platform.

"Jack is entering the ring, folks! The champion is here!"

I got off the platform since I'd just as well screw it up.

"I'll take the first move." Jack said. "And I'll summon Mad Archfiend in attack mode. That's my turn." The monster burst out of the ground in front of him.

"I set two cards facedown and activate Stray Lambs, summoning two lamb tokens to my side of the field." Two fluffballs with horns and sleepy smiling faces emerged on Maddy's side. "Now I'll activate Wonder Balloons, discarding two cards to make your monsters 600 attack points weaker. I'll end my turn."

"I summon Twin-Sword Marauder in attack mode." Both his monsters were covered in balloons. "And he's gonna make some lamb chop. Now, twin-sword slash!"

"Not so fast, your Marauder is getting destroyed with your archfiend because of my mirror force." The wall of energy between the monsters sparked and blasted away the Twin-Sword Marauder and Mad Archfiend.

"Oh well, I special summon Cyber Dragon from my hand since you have monsters but I don't." The mechanical dragon was swarmed by balloons when it came onto the field. "Your move, Maggy." "It's Maddy!" She said agitated. "And I play a monster in defense mode before ending my turn."

"I'll set a card and then attack your lambs with my Cyber Dragon." The dragon slammed against another barrier.

"Sorry, had two." She held up two fingers.

"Then I guess I'll special summon my Vice Dragon in attack mode and pass it on to you."

"I'll flip over my Lemon Magician Girl and summon Crusader of Endymion. Now, Crusader, slay that dragon!"

"Not so fast. Have a taste of your own medicine." Jack said as he activated his own Mirror Force, destroying the spellcasters.

"What the hell?!" She tried to mumble. Tried. She actually yelled.

"Not too fond of yourself now, are you?"

"Your turn." She said annoyed.

"I'll set a card and sacrifice my Vice Dragon for a better one. Now, those lambs have been around too long, destroy one!" The dragon flew up and impaled one of the lambs on its massive claws, and it shattered into shards of light. "I'll end my turn there."

"I'll set one card and end my turn." Maddy said, grinning.

"One card won't be enough to save you. Vice Dragon, kill the last lamb!"

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor." A suit of spiked armor appeared on the lamb and stabbed into the dragon before it could land an attack.

"Well, I'll special summon another Cyber Dragon then and end my turn."

"I'll set one card and end my turn once again."

"I'll set a monster and then Cyber Dragon will attack your lamb."

"I have another one." She taunted him as his dragon was destroyed by a field of energy.

"Your deck is extremely aggravating."

"I know. That's the point! I activate wonder balloon and discard a card to depower your monsters even more. That's it."

"Is this a joke? Do you know who I am?"

"A rich guy who became an ass like the rest once he became 'the best'."

"Well, it's your move, and I am the best!"

"I do the same thing as last turn." She said, putting another card in her graveyard.

"How do you expect to win if all you do is send your deck to the grave?" He asked as he drew his card. "Your turn, you DADS duelist."

"I do it again." She said, sending another card to the grave.

"I'll set a card. That's what you can do with these, put them on the field."

"Hey! Shut up! I do what I want!" Maddy put another card into the graveyard. "Wait, no! I wanted that! Shit!"

"And this is why you don't send everything to the grave."

"Fuck off, Atlas!" She yelled.

Jack chuckled. "I summon Twin-Sword Marauder in attack mode." The monster was immediately covered in so many balloons it couldn't move.

"I summon Gishki Natalia in attack mode, now attack the Marauder!"

"I activate Magical Cylinders, sending that attack at you." The blast of water went in one tube and out the other pointed at Maddy.

"And that's the first damage of the match! On the twentieth turn, someone finally got hit!"

"I end my turn, which brings Natalia back to my hand." Maddy said annoyed.

"I summon Sinister Sprocket. Then I flip summon Magic Hole Golem."

"Oh crap…" Maddy muttered.

"Now, I use the three of them for a synchro summon." The Sprocket leapt into the air and down flew the green ring, that went down the two monsters, rendering them into seven small stars. "Let's kick this duel into overdrive! Come on out, Red Dragon Archfiend!" The giant black and red dragon floated over the two duelists. "And now, because of Sinister Sprocket's effect, your balloons are no more!" As balloons tried to attach themselves to the dragon, it swung a chain out and popped them all, before throwing the chain into the wonder balloons card, and making it shatter into shards of light. "Archfiend, that lamb has overstayed its welcome five times over. Finish it." He said and the dragon picked up the lamb and ate it in one bite. "Your turn."

"I set a monster and end my turn." Maddy was very unhappy at this turn of events.

"I summon Creation Resonator. Now, he's going to attack your face down."

"Ha! It's not strong enough!" Maddy yelled as her Natalia was flipped face up.

"Oh, with a little help he is. I activate Prideful Roar. By paying lifepoints equal to the difference in attack between our two monsters, Creation Resonator is boosted to 300 more attack than your monster has." The small demon used his back-mounted fan to destroy the water woman. "Now, Red Dragon Archfiend. Finish this insufferable brat." The dragon breathed in and then shot out a massive wave of crimson fire over Maddy, wiping out the rest of her life points.

"And Jack has done it again folks! He beat the small players with a brand-new experimental deck!" The announcer yelled excitedly for the crowd.

Maddy placed her deck back in its pouch and tried to calmly walk off. She was mumbling to herself. She walked into the waiting area and crossed her arms as she looked at me. "Ready to go?" She asked still partially annoyed.

I sighed. This was not going to be a pleasant ride anywhere. "Whenever you are."

"Race you to the ice cream shop?" She asked as we got on our duel runners.

"I really don't want to get another ticket." I told her.

"I paid for it! It was my fault anyway." She grinned. "I'm surprised Trudge hasn't done anything worse than that to me yet."

"He really does hate you." I said.

"Yeah. I'm just surprised I haven't been arrested yet."

I put my helmet on my head and started my runner. "So which ice cream place we headed to?"

"The one on 7th street." She said and put her helmet on.

"See you there." I said as I pulled out onto the road.

The ride was pretty uneventful, except we saw a really cool red duel runner fly past us in the other lane. "That guy seems to be in a rush." I mumbled to myself.

We got to the ice cream shop and ate our treats out front, watching our duel runners to make sure no one tried to steal them. I chuckled a little bit, thinking of earlier. "Well, sorry about you losing."

"As soon as I get home I want to work on my deck. I do _not_ want to lose another duel!" She said and angrily ate her ice cream. How was that possible?!

"Just try to say 'bubbles' a lot. There's no angry way to do that."

She looked at me annoyed and said nothing. She grabbed a napkin off the table and started writing cards down and possible combos, what cards worked with what, and so on. She must have been really focused on it because she forgot about her ice cream.

"I know you really don't want to lose again, but my deck hinges on two specific cards, three if you're generous." My phone started ringing in my pocket. I pulled it out of my pocket, and answered. "Hey mom."

"Ryan, they took her!" My mom sounded really distressed and like she was crying.

I immediately got up and started to walk to my runner. "Mom, who is they and who is her?"

"Your sister's been taken." She told me.

"I'll be right there." I told her and hung up my phone. "The part is going to have to wait." I told Maddy and got on my runner.

"I'm coming with you." Maddy said and hopped on her runner.

"I don't have time to argue." I said, pulling onto the street and drove home as fast as I could. Once I got in the driveway, I basically jumped off my runner and let it roll to a stop. I ran inside and everything was in disorder. I ran up the stairs screaming for my mom. I found her sitting in the middle of my sister's room. "Mom, who did this?" I asked, kneeling next to her.

"The… The Arcadia Movement came and took Taylor. They think she's a psychic."

"What? She can't even tell what her friends are thinking." "They told me they were doing what was best for her."

"Don't worry, Mom. We'll get her back." I assured her and grabbed her hand. "I'll be back soon. Love you." I hugged her and left. As I was going down the stairs, Maddy was going up. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "We're going to the Arcadia Building."

"Question… HOW ARE WE GETTING IN?! Is one of us gonna have to act like we're a psychic or something?"

"No, we're going to walk in through the front door." I said, getting on my runner again.

Maddy got on hers a quickly followed.

We got there and I ran to through the automatic doors to the receptionist. "Hi, I'd like to talk to someone about my sister's initiation here and how it was against her will!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but you must be thinking of someone else. We do not induct anyone if they don't want to join."

"Then who else took her?!" I yelled and slammed my fist on the desk.

Two guys in robes on either side of the lobby came towards me, ready to restrain me.

"I thought you all were psychics. Just sweep me out the door with your powers. Unless you're a hoax."

"What?!" The one on the left of me yelled indignantly.

"Do you want us to show you how real we are?!" The one on the right screamed, getting his duel disk ready.

"Bring it on, twats." I said turning away from the receptionist, and having my own extend to be ready.

"Prepare to be beaten in ways you could never conceive of." The left one said.

Maddy ran in just in time.

"Well, let's see how you guys like dealing with a powerful dragon and the power of a constellation." I grinned.

"What the hell did you do now?" Maddy looked at me annoyed.

"Made some friends. Get ready for a duel." I told her.

She chuckled. "Yeah! Let's duel!" Her red duel disk lit up.

"Since you guys were so eager, you can go first." I told the Arcadia Members.

"Good." Right said. "I set a monster and three other cards."

"I set a card and summon Tuned Magician in attack mode." The magician sprang up next to me with his towering hat, cocky grin, and scepter. "Attack his face down card." I ordered the magician. He pointed his scepter forward at the facedown monster and shot a beam composed of green circles at it. The Nimble Musasabi was destroyed.

"No loss for me, but for you, as you take 500 points of damage." The Arcadia grunt said cockily.

The electricity that zapped through my body was real, and really painful. I closed my eyes tightly and gritted my teeth through it as I was electrocuted.

"F-fine." I said. "I end my turn." "Wonderful." The grunt said as he drew. "I activate Soul Taker, destroying your monster and giving you 1000 life points." I could feel what was hurt heal itself as the Tuned Magician flowed into me. "And now I set one more monster."

"I summon Evocator Chevalier." I said as an orange masked warrior emerged in front of me with a curved blade. "Attack the face down with Burning Slash!" He quickly moved towards the card and as it flipped up it revealed a scrawny old man with a hammer and nearly forged sword. The man was slashed in half and burned away.

"Because of that blacksmith you so callously murdered, I get to move an equip spell from the deck to my hand, and I choose Black Pendant." The grunt pulled the card from the right spot without even looking.

"I don't see what good that will do you. I end my turn."

"Well, you will see soon enough." After he drew, he put the card in his hand. "I pass."

I grinned as I drew my card. "Soon as in I'll be out of high school soon or your next few turns soon?"

"It doesn't matter which."

"It will. I summon another Evocator." Another warrior appeared beside me, identical to the first. "Both of you, attack directly." The twin spellswords leaped at the psychic duelist, and cut an "X" across his chest, he staggered backwards and his lifepoints were lowered down to 200 lifepoints. "That 'soon' better be next turn."

He drew his next card. "I'm afraid it will not be. Now strike me down." He opened his arms, ready to embrace what he knew was coming.

"I will. After I normal summon my first Evocator again." The warrior's off hand sparked a ball of flames that covered his fist and he held it in front of himself proudly. "Now, Evocator, finish him with Burning Smash." The Evocator launched himself at the Arcadia member with a blast of flame from under his feet and slammed his fist into the psychic, knocking him onto his ass, winning me the duel.

I grinned and looked over at how Rose was handling the left guy. He was beaten pretty easily too.

"Now then," I said, "where's my sister?" I asked the receptionist again.

"I already told you that no one is taken here and forced to join." The receptionist told me.

"Fine. When's the next time I would be able to see your boss?" I asked her.

"Mr. Sayer's earliest appointment window is in two months, sir."

"Then schedule me for then. If any of his other meetings cancel, let me know immediately." I told her, gave her my name and number, and stormed out of the place.

"That's it?" Maddy asked me annoyed as he looked at the building. "Oh I got an idea, but I might go to jail-"

"What is it?" I asked her.

"You know Uncle Richard's g-"

"We're not going to be shooting or threatening to shoot anyone." I told her.

"I didn't say you had to..."

"That's why I said 'we'."

"Oh! I got this!" She cracked her knuckles. "I'll be back in five."

"You're not going to be charged for assault that many times and not go to the Facility."

"Or you know." She looked over towards the direction Satellite was. "We could find someone from satellite."

"Yeah, because they just love people from New Domino." "But-"

"We'll find her before that woman gets back to me."


	2. Go Get Her

_'_ _I have no idea how we're going to find Taylor before that woman gets back to me.'_ I thought to myself. I paced back and forth across the sidewalk. I looked up just because I needed to look at something else, and that's when I saw it. A billboard advertised that the Black Rose was going to be in the Fortune Cup! "That's it!" I yelled excitedly.

"What's 'it'?" Maddy asked.

"The Black Rose." I pointed at the billboard. "She's being advertised by Arcadia as competing in the Fortune Cup!"

"I love her deck…" Maddy smiled.

"Yeah, and she's a member of Arcadia. We can go to the fortune cup, and sneak onto their transport as they're leaving."

"And you think we can just waltz on in like nothing happened or that we belong there?"

"If we buy tickets to it, then yes."

"Right. Not used to just watching them…"

"We're just buying tickets to get into the stadium. We're not watching." I told her.

"Alright. We have a few days till it starts though, right?"

"Yeah. So you go do your deck building or whatever."

"You read my mind!"

As she went off I pulled out my deck and looked down at it. _'I can do this. I mean, the world's been saved with this game before, so what's one more person?'_

I looked back up at the Arcadia building, towering above me in New Domino. _'Maybe Maddy has a point about making deck adjustments.'_ I put my deck back into its deck holster and put on my helmet before getting onto my runner. I rode down towards an old friend's. He didn't play duel monsters, but he was insanely lucky with what he pulled from packs. I knocked on the door and he opened the door, slightly hunched over with a pair of glasses over his brown eyes. He was in his gray hoodie and jeans, like always. "David!" I said excited when I saw him.

"Ryan, not that I'm complaining but what brings you here unannounced?"

"I need to borrow some of your luck. You know that pack that released last week? It has some cards that could help me out, and I plan on getting my sister back from Arcadia."

"Arcadia?!" David yelled. "Dude, how are you going to get through an entire cult of psychics?" He asked me as he brought me in.

"I hope it will be carefully and quickly. I know you don't duel, but I'd appreciate this little bit of help. Lady Luck likes you more than she does me."  
"Alright, you buy however many packs you think it will take for me to get those cards." He told me.

"You wanna come with?" I asked him.

"I always enjoy a ride with the breeze going through my hair and across my face." David said as he ran his hand through his short black hair.

"Let's get going then." We left his house and got on my runner once again. I handed him my spare helmet and we were off to the card dealer. As we walked in there were a few people, but not as many as one would've thought. I grabbed three packs of what I needed. I set them on the counter and started to pull out the money I needed for them as David came up behind me with a lot of packs and a few individual cards in his hands.

"Dave, what are you doing?" I asked him.

"You said your sister was taken, and I'm going to help in whatever way I can. I'm going to learn how to duel."

I put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "That means a lot to me. Thank you for this."

"Uh, buddy, you gonna pay for your cards or…?" The dealer asked.

"Yeah, sorry." I said, letting go of David and putting the money on the counter. "Let's hope your luck turns out insane today."

* * *

Turns out, his luck WAS insane today. He was able to scrape together a decent deck, and I got the cards I was looking for, plus a little extra. We stood across his backyard from each other, ready to test his new deck, and my new cards.

"Follow my lead." I said as I started the duel. "First, I play Herculean Power, then I set another back row. Next I summon Tuned Magician in attack mode." A circle of light appeared and the magician jumped upwards from within it. "Your move, David. Draw a card."

He pulled a card from his deck and looked at it. "I summon Raiden, Hand of the Lightsworn." The tanned man leapt upwards from a circle of light with his sword glowing brightly. "Then I activate his effect to send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard. He sent reinforcement of the army and Jain the Lightsworn paladin to the graveyard. "Now I activate The Warrior Returning Alive, adding Jain the Lightsworn Paladin back to my hand, but because he _was_ in the graveyard, Raiden gets boosted by 200 attack, making him stronger than your magician. Now, Raiden, attack and destroy it!" The warrior ran towards my spellcaster and swung his sword up, my magician tried to block it with his staff, but that was knocked aside as he was slashed in half and he shattered into shards of light. A life point counter appeared in between David and me showing my life points dropping by 100. "I end my turn and because of Raiden's effect, I send the top two cards of my deck to the graveyard." He milled the next two cards.

"I draw." I said as I pulled the next card to my hand. "First, I summon Blazewing Butterfly." A tornado of flame appeared in front of me and as it disappeared a large butterfly with fire wings was floating in front of me. "Now, I activate Dragon's Mirror. By removing the Magician you destroyed and Blazewing Butterfly from play, I can fusion summon one dragon. So I summon Superalloy Beast Raptinus!" I said as a mirror appeared before my butterfly and in it showed the magician. They both went into it at the same time and the mirror started to glow. Then it shattered and from the shards came my dragon. "It's stronger than Raiden and it helps gemini monsters when they get on the field. So, Raptinus, attack with effect thunder blast!" The dragon reared back and a blue lightning blasted towards Raiden, and it destroyed him, lowering David's life points by 300. "I end my turn."

He drew his card and put it in his hand. "I banish Raiden from the graveyard to summon Black Collarserpent. Then, I play Ruins of the Great Divine Dragon." A large statue and decrepit pillars surrounded us. "Next, I activate it, destroying Collarserpent." The dragon's orb of darkness on its chest expanded, consuming it, then disappearing. "Because of that I bring a White Dragon Wyvernburster to my hand. Then, I banish Collarserpent from my graveyard to Special Summon Wyvernburster. Then I set one monster and end my turn." In the end of that turn, there was a small statue standing in front of him, a blue and white wyvern floating next to him, and a facedown card next to the statue.

"My draw then." I pulled the next card and looked at it. I smiled. "I summon Crusader of Endymion." I said as I placed the card on my duel disk. The spellcaster emerged without his armor at first, but then it rose from the ground and floated around him. "Now, Raptinus, attack the face down card." The dragon launched a bolt of blue lightning towards the facedown monster. It flipped up and it was a smaller red dragon, Magna Drago. It was zapped to death and shattered light Raiden and my Magician. "Now, Crusader, attack the Wyvernburster." I commanded my monster. He reeled back as if to launch a punch and thrust his fist forward. The piece of armor on his right arm shot forward and pierced into the white dragon, destroying it.

"Because of that, I get to add another Collarserpent to my hand." David said, getting it as his duel disk selected it.

"You're getting it. I end my turn."

"I banish White Dragon Wyvernburster to special summon Black Dragon Collarserpent. Next, I destroy him with my Ruins, to summon another Dragon Lord Token." The dragon turned to stone and wrapped itself around David. "I add a White Dragon Wyvern Burster to my hand, then I banish Collarserpent from my graveyard to summon it. Next I set one card and end my turn."

I drew my next card and opened up the sixth compartment for field spells on my duel disk. "I activate Catalyst Field." The area around us became an expanse of space with lightning flashing through it. "Then, using Catalyst Field, I summon King Pyron without sacrificing." There was a ball of flames that condensed into a humanoid form then a cape of fire dropped down from his shoulders. "Then, I activate his effect. Once per turn, I can burn you for 1000 life points. Your majesty, use Royal Flame." Pyron's cape went upwards and dove down onto David and swirled around him, before returning to the King. "Now, Raptinus, attack the white dragon." Raptinus opened his gaping maw, and bit down on the dragon, crushing it into shards of light. "Crusader, attack the facedown." He launched his left gauntlet toward the facedown with a quick jab. The card flipped over and a white and red dragon appeared before being impaled on the armor.

"You triggered Masked Dragon's effect. If he's destroyed by battle, then I can summon a dragon with 1500 or less attack from my deck, and I choose Decoy Dragon." A cute little green dragon crawled out from under the stone of the statue protecting David.

"That's fine." I said. "Pyron, attack the statue in front!" I told him. The fire king put his hands together and thrust them forward, making a sideways spiral of fire, destroying the statue. "And I'll end my turn there."  
"I'm going to do the same move I've been doing. I banish Wyvernburster to summon Collarserpent then I make Decoy Dragon into a statue and set a card. Now, Collarserpent is going to attack your King Pyron! Go, dark void breath."

The dragon launched a blast of dark energy at my fire king from its mouth. "I activate Gemini Booster, increasing King Pyron's attack by 700 points." King Pyron had a metallic backpack with a lot of sensors and an electrical gauntlet attached to each forearm appear. He blasted back with an flame tornado bigger than the darkness blast and destroyed the Collarserpent.

"I'll add a Wyvernburster from my deck to my hand. I end my turn."

I drew my card and put it down almost instantly. "I summon Dark Valkyria. Then, I activate her first effect and put a spell counter on her. Next, I remove the counter and destroy your facedown monster." The fallen angel's wings lit up with a dark glow and launched the power at the the face down card. The monster destroyed was a Galaxy Serpent, light, small, and beautiful. "Then, I activate Crusader of Endymion's effect. He can add a spell counter to one card that can use them, and I pick Dark Valkyria. Then I activate her again and destroy your Decoy Dragon statue." The two monsters shared energy then Dark Valkyria sent a wave of darkness into the statue of Decoy Dragon, making it crumble. "Now, Dark Valkyria, attack the Collarserpent statue." She launched towards the statue and pierced its neck with her wing tips. "Now, Raptinus, finish this with effect thunder blast!" The dragon braced itself on the ground and launched forth a bolt of blue lightning into David, winning me the duel.

The space around us faded back to reality and David was rubbing the back of his head. "I guess it still needs some adjustments."

"You still did great for your first ever duel." I told him. "It should be more than enough for us to get into Arcadia."

"Yeah, question about that, what do you expect to do to get in. Not like we can duel our way in."

"I'm glad you asked, we're going to the fortune cup and hitching a ride on their transport." I told him. "We may have to steal some uniforms from them to get farther than that."

"You're planning on hijacking a truck being driven by psychics?" David asked.

"Yes. Yes I am." I confirmed.

"Alright, what day? The tournament is over two of them."

"The first. We can't risk the Black Rose not showing up day two and missing our ride."

"I'll be there." He told me.

"Great." I hit the fist he held out. "Prep your deck. If what I hear about these freaks is true, the damage they deal in duels is real. Who knows what happens when you lose."

"I'll be careful." He promised.

"See you tournament day." I told him as I left.

As I sat down on my runner I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. I looked at it and it was a number I didn't have in my contacts. I put on my helmet and answered it with the bluetooth I have installed on it. "Hello, this is Ryan Drak."  
"Hello, Ryan, we've been wanting to talk to you. What is a time and place we would be able to meet?" A smooth male voice came through the speakers.  
"A few questions. First: who are you? Second: what do you want with me? And third: Not during the Fortune Cup or directly after day one. I have pressing business those days."  
"I'm a part of a nearby neurological development lab in your area, and I was told that you think a relative of yours recently volunteered their services for us and I wanted to make sure your family didn't have a history of mental illness."  
"We're Irish." I told him. "Girls get the anger, guys got the enjoyment of alcohol and stubbornness."

He chuckled. "Thank you for that, but we mean actual mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or alzheimer's."

"I don't know of any. Is that all?"  
"Well, we've recently been informed of some talents that you had from this relative and were wondering if we could get an interview for a job here."  
"Without an application?"  
"We've heard very good things."  
"Fine. Tomorrow, four o'clock. Tell me where to be, and I'll be there."  
"How about The Tandoori Star? I hear their Maghreb is divine."  
"Sure, whatever. Like I said, I have pressing matters that I have to attend to, so just don't waste my time with it."  
"We'll see you there." The man said and hung up.

 _'_ _Weird place. I'll just go and see what it's about.'_ I thought.

* * *

I pulled up to the place they told me to go on my runner. Fancy. I handed the valet the keys to my runner. "Don't scratch it or hit anything." I told him. "Feel free to grumble though. I find it helps me a lot with letting out frustration."

I walked into the entrance with the reflection of my suit facing me. I looked around for the person they sent. I got a picture of the person they sent to interview in a text after they called. It was a man with brown hair that went upwards in a huge crescent shape. He had on a green tie, and black everything else. It was business attire, so it didn't look that weird. I kept looking around for him in the crowd of people sitting in the front of the waiting area.

"I knew you'd come." The same voice from the phone said from behind me as a hand was put on my shoulder.

I looked behind me and there was the man who was supposed to meet me. "I hope you made a reservation." I told him.

"But of course." He said as he went past me to the host desk. "Two for Divine." He told the hostess. She looked at the list and nodded her head. "Yep, you're right here." She grabbed some menus and walked out from behind the desk. "Could you please follow me?"

We followed her to the table and we sat down across from each other. I opened my mouth first. "So what do you want from me?" I asked the man.

"Let's get to your questions after we've ordered." He told me, looking over the menu. "Besides, you're the one being interviewed."  
"Fine. Ask whatever you need to."  
"What's your experience with psychic duelists?" He asked me.

"I've only dueled one and that was a few days ago."

"I see. Was there anything odd about this duel?" He asked.

"Well, I can confirm the rumors going around that psychic duelists deal damage to your body at the same time as your lifepoints."

"Intriguing." He said as if he was only half listening. "So, what kind of talents could you bring to our organization."

"When something needs to be done, I get it done." I told him.

"Splendid." The man said as the waitress came and asked if we wanted drinks.

We got them quickly and the man looked me in the eyes after his first sip. "Do you know anything about the Arcadia Movement?" He asked.

"I know enough to know that I don't want to join them."  
"That doesn't answer my question sufficiently." He sighed. "You'll have to be more specific. What do you know?"

"I know that they kidnapped my sister and that they claim they're all psychic duelists."  
"Kidnapping? I know that they're controversial, but that's one hell of a claim."  
"My mom told me they took her and when I got home, that house was trashed and my sister was gone."  
"I'm sure our organization can help you and your mother out with that. See, that Arcadia Movement's recent activities have been discrediting my firm's scientific studies. We're looking for some people to disassemble them from the inside out."  
"What makes you think they'd let me in?"

"Well, that psychic duelist you dueled the other day? He contacted his superiors and said that you had potential. Both as a duelist and as a member."  
I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. "How about 'no'? I'm not a psychic duelist."  
"The man's cuts, bruises, and burns say otherwise." He pulled out some photos of the man I had dueled and he did have some injuries where my monsters had hit him.

"So say that I am a psychic duelist. What do I do to get Arcadia to take notice in me?"  
"They already have. I appreciate that you've silenced your phone for our interview, but I have a feeling they'll call you within the next…" He pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch, "thirty minutes."  
"How do you know any of this?" I asked him.

"I've got people on the inside that at the moment can't do anything except observe and give me intel. So, would you like to join in?"  
"Before I answer, tell me one thing: do your people on the inside know what happened to my sister?" I asked him.

"No, I'm afraid they don't. New people are brought in all the time. Hard to keep track of them all."  
"Oh." I was disappointed greatly.

"But I'm sure you'll find her. They tend to give new members rooms based on last names, so you two should end up close together."

"So, what do I do to get in?"

"They'll tell you when and how." He told me. "You might want to turn on your ringer now."

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned the ringer on. "I say we cut this interview short so that I can answer their call."  
"I agree. You will accept my proposition, won't you?"  
"I have a feeling you won't take 'no' for an answer."

"Very perceptive of you."

"Fine." I said.

"Feel free to go. I'm the one who invited you so I'll pay."

"Thanks." I told him as I got up and left. As soon as I left the restaurant, the ringtone started going off. I pulled it out and it was another number I didn't know. I pressed the answer button and put the phone next to my ear. "Hello, Ryan Drak."

"Hello, Ryan," a woman's voice said from the phone's speaker, "I'm calling you to see if you would be interested in coming in to talk about joining the Arcadia Movement. We can have you in to talk to Mr. Sayer in four days."  
"I would be interested." I lied to her. _'I'll probably be seeing him sooner than you think.'_

"Wonderful. If you'd stop by around ten o'clock at the Arcadia Building, Mr. Sayer will speak with you then. Do you need an address?"  
"I should be fine."  
"Alright, we'll see you then." She hung up and I put my phone back in my pocket. I looked at the valet. "Black duel runner with white stripes on the side, double wheels on the back."

"Yessir. I'll be right back with that."

The valet returned within 3 minutes with my runner. "Thanks, here you go." I tipped him and was on my way. _'Arcadia is going to hate me.'_


	3. Outside the Box, Inside the Movement

"You're doing what?!" Maddy and David asked together.

"I got an offer from Arcadia to join up with them because when I dueled one of their grunts they got actual injuries from my monsters' attacks." I repeated to them. "It comes up after the Fortune Cup. So I'm going to go up to them during it and distract them so you can sneak onto their truck."

"How will you get in though? You said you would be able to get in a few days after the Fortune Cup. You can't expect us to be in there for that long."  
"I don't." I told David. "I plan on convincing them to bring me to the Arcadia building for preliminary testing of what I can do."

"What if they say 'no'?" Maddy asked.

"Then I'll knock on the side of the truck twice, that will tell you to get out."  
"How would we get out after we get to the building though?" David questioned.

"We'll figure that out when we get there."

"That is not what we should do." David said. "We need some kind of plan. Otherwise they'll just get security to kick our asses and send us out."

"And I'll be another step closer to the facility!" Maddy yelled.

"Okay, well what did you guys have in mind?"

"I'm blaming you if anything happens."

"Nothing bad will happen." I told her. ' _Probably.'_

"We should still have some idea of what we're doing before we get to the cup tomorrow." David wasn't convinced.  
"Okay, well, how about when we're on the way back from the stadium, you guys hide in some of their boxes of stuff?" I suggested.

"That could work." Maddy said in agreement.  
"Good. Now then," I looked at the table with tickets on it, "who's ready to get Taylor back?"  
"Me!" Maddy cheered.

"Sooner the better." David said.

"Great. Go get some sleep. We're getting there at six o'clock to get close to the front of the line."  
"I should have gone to bed hours ago then!" Maddy joked. She kinda hates mornings.

"I'll see you two tomorrow." David said, leaving.

* * *

"Hey, could I talk to you guys for a minute?" I asked the Arcadia grunts loading boxes back into the trucks they came on.

"Listen, we're not in charge of recruitment or complaints, so take it up with the guy riding shotgun in this truck."

"Thanks." I said and went to the front of the truck. In the seat I saw someone I very much did not expect. "Divine?" I said, shocked.

"Ah, Devain. Nice to see you again."

"What are you doing with them? I thought you were working against them and you needed me on the inside to feed you information."

"I'm in the upper levels. You're to give me info from the middle and lower ranks."

"Couldn't you just ask people who are already in Arcadia to do that?"

"It's a very need to know basis organization. Low ranks might be privy to something that the VP might not know."

"Well, since you're so high up, do you think you could advance my test duel to when we get to the Arcadia building?"  
He grinned. "I don't see why not. Hop in."

I climbed up into the truck as Divine moved over to the driver's side. I tried to keep him talking as the other two were hopefully sneaking into the truck's trailer.

* * *

The truck I was in drove into the parking garage under the Arcadia Building. It stopped in a spot marked for it and I hopped out of it. I looked to Divine when he got out of the truck. "So what's my test?" I asked him. The grunts at the back of the truck were struggling with two particular boxes because of their weight.

"We'll see, won't we?" He said with a smile.

The other truck's back opened and the Black Rose stepped out without her mask on. She looked at me and scoffed. "He's the best we've found in the past month?"

"Akiza, he's good at what he does. He just needs some help with his psionics." Divine told her.

"My name is 'Ryan,' by the way, so you can stop referring to me as 'he'." I piped in.

She glared at me. "I didn't ask, and I don't care. Just don't do anything stupid." She said, getting down from the truck's trailer and walking off.

"Don't mind her." Divine told me. "She's just a bit on edge because of the tournament. Come on, your test is this way." He led me through the building and I was slightly impressed by the set up they had here. It was very high tech. Soon enough, we came to the dueling arenas they had. Divine grabbed a duel disk from where it was hanging on the wall. "If you want to join, you'll start with this duel disk."

I thought back to my duel runner and my red and white disk. I nodded and put the silver disk on my arm. I looked out to the dueling rings and didn't see anyone standing out there waiting for us. Divine put a duel disk on. "You're my tester?" I asked, surprised.

He nodded. "I might as well be. I'm going to be the one sticking my neck out for you in board meetings, so I should know what I'm risking it for. Shall we?" He asked and waved his arm towards the dueling arenas.

"We shall." I said and the duel disk extended. We took our places on either end of a dueling arena.

"Your test, your move first." Divine told me.

"I appreciate it." I told him, looking at my hand. "I'll begin with Catalyst Field." I put the card into the field slot of the duel disk and the arena shifted to space with pink lightning and novas happening occasionally around us. "Then I normal summon Tuned Magician." A green ring appeared in front of me and the spellcaster jumped up from it. "I then used Catalyst Field's effect, I can normal summon a gemini monster one additional time. So I gemini summon Tuned Magician." A green tuner ring appeared around Tuned Magician. "Then I'll set a card and end my turn."

"I activate Emergency Teleport to summon to the field Lifeform Harmonizer. Then, I activate Psychokinesis, I pay 1000 life points and target a card on the field to destroy it. I choose my own Lifeform Harmonizer." The gooey monster sprang up and coated him, I saw some steam rising off as the monster disappeared. "I'll set a card and a monster to end my turn."

"I use Catalyst Field to summon Chthonian Emperor Dragon to the field without a sacrifice." The dragon swooped down in front of me, its black and silver armor gleaming in the galactic battlefield. "Then I gemini summon it for it to gain its effect. He can now attack twice a turn." I smiled. "Tuned Magician, attack the face down monster." He conjured a ring of green light over the face down monster and brought it down over the card as a woman with a pair of cat ears was rendered down to stars that faded into the rest of the field. "Now, Chthonian Emperor Dragon, Twin Emperor Blast!" The dragon extended its neck upwards and the gleaming of its armor flew off of it as twin flames that slammed together with Divine in the middle. His life points were reduced to nothing and the galaxy faded and we were back in the duel arenas.

"You passed." Divine told me. "I wasn't hurt though. How did you do it to that grunt before?"

"I… I don't know. I was just so fired up and angry and wanted to get my sister back."  
"Try to tap into those emotions when dueling other Arcadia members. They're not going to hold back and you shouldn't either."

I nodded. "Will I be able to get my runner soon?" I asked him. "I only paid for eight hours of parking."

"How long ago did you park it?"

"Six and half hours ago."

"Yeah, tell one of your Arcadia Brothers or Sisters that Divine wants them to drive you back to the stadium so you can get it."

"Thanks." I told him as I walked away from the dueling arena.

* * *

"What kind of wanna be just thinks he can walk up and ask for a ride?" The grunt said, snobily. "Why should I take you to the Kaiba Dome?"  
"Well, one, because I asked you nicely. Two, Divine said so, and three, I need my runner back before my parking expires." I answered him, giving about as much respect as I was getting.  
"Tell you what, newby, beat me in a duel and I'll take ya wherever you want."  
"If that's what it'll take." My duel disk extended and I put my deck into it.

"Tell me, kid, you like cartoons?" The woman asked me as her duel disk extended in the same way.  
"I have a feeling I won't enjoy the duel if I don't."  
"Right you are. I'll start us off by summoning Toon Goblin Attack Force in attack mode." A horde of cartoony goblins hopped out from behind all the rafters and pillars in the garage.

"Toons? Really?" I asked, now dreading the duel.  
"That's right, kiddo. Next, I'll set two cards and end my turn."

"Wonderful. I'll draw then." I looked at the card I drew and immediately put it into my field zone. "I'll start by activating Catalyst Field. Then, with Catalyst Field's effect, I normal summon the gemini monsters Tuned Magician and Heavy Knight of the Flame." A burning ring appeared behind me and the mage and chariot driver emerged from it, coming in front of me. "Next, I'll activate the spell card Unleash Your Power, giving them both their effects." The mage summoned a green ring around himself and the chariot driver's armor ignited, showing the spell had taken effect. "Now Tuned Magician is a tuner monster, and Heavy Knight has a very handy battle effect. Speaking of which, Heavy Knight! Attack the Toon Goblin Attack Force! Heavy Flame Charge!" The charioteer starting charging towards the goblin horde.

"That battle effect won't be going off! I activate Toon Defense! Any attack against a Toon Monster is now a direct attack!" A book opened up and the entire group of goblins hid inside it. The book fell over, making a ramp that Heavy Knight used to run over the Arcadian.

"Fine then. Now, before these two are flipped face down by Unleash Your Power's effect, I'll use Tuned Magician and Heavy Knight of the Flame in a synchro summon." Tuned Magician leapt behind me and green rings flew forward towards the flaming knight charging at me and he was reduced to bright orange stars. "Four plus four is eight, so come on out, my gemini dragon, Black Brutdrago!" The light shown in the rings was intense and as it faded, in front of me was a hulking black dragon with thick muscles, red eyes, and weights strapped to his arms. "Then, I activate his effect. By discarding one gemini monster in my hand, I can destroy one spell or trap card you control. And I think it's going to be your facedown. Brutdrago, Brutal Rush." The dragon rushed forward and slammed its massive clawed fist into the card, destroying it before it could be used. "Your move." I said, smugly looking at her.

"Fine. I draw." As she took the card from her deck, the toon book opened up and the goblins emerged once again. "I'll start with Toon World. I banish the top three cards of my deck facedown. Next, I'll activate Mimicat, to take the form of your Tuned Magician. Next, I'll set a card face down. Toon Gobbos, attack directly with the power of the Toon World finally with you!" The goblin horde all leapt over Brutdrago and brought their various weapons down on me, bludgeoning and cutting me. She grinned. "My, how the tables have turned. Though, the goblins go to defense mode now. Your turn, small fry."

"I'll set two cards. Now, Brutdrago, attack the Attack Force! Brutal Finisher!" The dragon leapt into the air, ready to bring a massive blow down onto the Attack Force.

"No! I need that for more attacks! I activate the effect of Toon Defense again, making it a direct attack!" The goblins were all sucked into the book again.

"You should really stop calling me kid, with your short sightedness. A direct attack reduces your life points to nill." I pointed out to her as Brutdrago used the book as a springboard and leapt at her with a powerful fist aimed for her. I was surprised to see it make contact and saw her fly backwards, making impact with the truck as the monster holograms faded away. I ran over to the woman. _***Warning, curse words ahead***_ ' _Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!'_ I thought as I ran over to her. I didn't want to hurt her! She was nowhere near as infuriating as when I found out Taylor was kidnapped.


	4. Dragon Duel

**This particular chapter is told from Maddie's POV, hope you enjoy**

I heard a huge crash farther down in the building. "What was that?" I asked David, worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but we should probably stay away from it." He told me. We had snuck out of the truck soon after Ryan had left. There were a lot of arcadia grunts running past the room we were in to go and try to find the source of the loud crashing. We waited for all of them to run through before we left. We were walking down the hall as quietly as we could, trying to find where they keep the new unwilling recruits.

We had been wandering around for about an hour when, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" A male voice asked behind us. We turned around and it was someone in the arcadia uniform.

"Uh… building inspectors?" David tried to come up with an excuse for us.  
"The building was just inspected." The Arcadian responded and his duel disk extended.

"Oh, we're doing. Let me handle this. I have some improvements I wanted to test." I said eagerly before pushing David behind me and my own duel disk extended.  
"What are you doing here?" The man asked us again as he drew his cards.

"Trying to find my cousin. You probably don't know where she is though." I told him sassily.

"You won't find her here." He placed a card on his duel disk. "I activate terraforming, bringing Dragon's Ravine to my hand. I activate Dragon's Ravine as a field spell. Then I use its effect to discard Dragunity Phalanx to bring Dragunity Dux to my hand. Then I banish Phalanx to special summon Garuda the Wind Spirit and normal summon Dux." The hall way around us turned into the walls of a canyon and the two winged humanoids flew down from the sky above, floating on either side of the grunt. "I will then set two cards"

"Hm. Whatever, they look weak anyway. I'll start by normal summoning White Stone of Ancients. Then, I'll discard Sage with Eyes of Blue to activate his effect." A white spherical stone emerged from the canyon's floor in front of me and the sage walked forward, tapping his staff on it. His essence went into the stone and it erupted in white light. "I target one level one light tuner on my field, and send it to the graveyard. Then, I can summon a Blue-eyes from my deck!" From the eruption of light the majestic Blue-eyes white dragon roared and showed itself. The light died down with the star of my deck now on the field. "Now, Blue-eyes, attack Dragunity Dux! White Lightning!"  
"Not so fast. I activate quaking mirror force, forcing your dragon to take cover from the falling debris and making it flip face down, not resurfacing for fear of getting injured." The canyon shook and the Blue-eyes shrunk down into its card, looking scared.  
"What?! Not fair!"

"Are you finished?"  
"With my turn, but that means a second Blue-eyes is summoned, thanks to my White Stone being sent to the graveyard." The shards of the white stone scattered around the field started swirling into a white glowing portal and a Blue-eyes flew out of it, showing that this dragon won't be kept down.

"Garuda's effect forces him into defense position with forceful winds making him advance cautiously." The wind whipped up, making the dragon hold its wings in front of him in a defensive fashion. He drew his card and set the monster. "I set one card and end my turn."  
"Not so tough, are you?" I drew my next card, but I was already smiling. I had a play on the field since the second Blue-eyes arrived. "I fuse my facedown Blue-eyes with my faceup one and fusion summon Blue-Eyes Twin Burst Dragon, not using Polymerization because of his effect!" The two dragons' bodies swirled together and soon, a dragon with two heads and glowing markings flew in their place. "Now, he's going to attack both your monsters! Go, twin lightning!" The two heads unleashed massive blasts of electricity into Garuda and Dux, destroying them both. The man's lifepoint counter displayed and lowered down to 1100. "Next, I'll banish my White Stone from my graveyard to bring one of my Blue-eyes back to my hand. Finally, I'll normal summon Master with Eyes of Blue, to add Sage back to my hand as well." The old man rose from the ground in front of me, and raised a glowing staff, the sage's staff, and a ghostly hand grabbed it before the hologram shot back to my hand. "That's it for now."

"I draw a card and activate Dragon's Ravine. I discard this card and add another Phalanx to my hand. Then I set a monster and flip summon Dux. He is going to attack your Master." The bird man sent his whip forward and lashed my monster to bits, sending the shards forward, scratching me as my life points went down to 2600.

I smiled as he said he ended his turn. "I summon Sage with Eyes of Blue. He lets me add a level one light tuner from my deck to my hand, and I choose Maiden with Eyes of Blue." The Sage rose from where the Master once stood, raising up his staff like calling to someone and a white light shot towards my hand. "Next, I activate the Master's graveyard effect. I can shuffle him into the deck and send an effect monster to the graveyard to special summon a Blue-eyes from the graveyard. And look at that, Sage is an effect monster." I said with a confident smirk. A white blast shot up under sage and the blast turned dragon shaped before the Blue-eyes showed itself once again. "Then I use the spell Burst Stream of Destruction. When I control and Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I can use this card to destroy every monster on your side of the field, at the cost of tuckering out my dragon enough to keep him from attacking." My dragon pulled its head back, taking a deep breath and launching a massive burst of thunder and lightning into Dux and his facedown. "And now that your field is clear, you get to feel every bit of this. Twin Burst, twin lightning!" The twin heads launched forward a blast of lightning into the duelist and his lifepoints went down to 0. "I win." I said, satisfied. All I needed was a few adjustments.

"So you did. You earned my secrecy. Do what you wish." He turned around and started walking away as the canyon scenery faded back to the hallway. "Though you should hurry. Everyone will be returning to their normal places soon."

David and I rushed around trying to find a new place to sneak in, like an air vent or something. Soon enough, we found ourselves stuck in a surprisingly large supply closet. "I wonder how long until everyone leaves for the night." David whispered.


	5. Bad Loss Followed by a Crushing Win

**Back to your normally scheduled Ryan.**

"Come on, come on, come on." I was trying to shake the woman awake as people were rushing down the steps, they gathered in a circle around us.

Divine walked up quickly and aggravated. "What's going on here?" He pushed through the crowd and saw the unconscious woman with me trying to waking her up. He pointed to one of the larger grunts. "You, carry her to a working car and get her to the hospital. And you," he grabbed me by the back of my shirt, "we need to have words." He pulled me all the way to his office, without uttering a single word. It was surprisingly spacious. "What the hell was that? Are you trying to blow your own cover?"  
I blinked, confused. "What? How would me winning a duel make people question me?"  
"Because it wasn't one we told you to do. And it hurt one of our members pretty badly."

"Right… Sorry." I said, feeling like a bit of a dummy now.

"And now, you have to have some sort of reprimand."

"What is it going to be?"  
Divine sat in his chair and tapped his chin for a while before snapping his fingers like he got an idea. "You're going to headed up against our best. The Black Rose."

I got shivers down my spine. "Is there anything else?"

"Not that the other members of the Movement wouldn't see as favoritism. It'll happen tonight. Be ready."  
I swallowed nervously and left his office. I looked at my phone for the time. I could walk to the stadium and drive back before sunset probably. I left the building through the parking garage and started making my way to the duel arena. As I walked out, a lot of eyes were looking at me. I pulled the hood of my hoodie up over my head to try and cover myself. That'd keep them from looking, right? Wrong. A massive man with a build of pure muscle placed a hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly. "You should go back inside."  
"I need to get my duel runner from the duel stadium." I told him, a bit frightened.

"Allow me to correct myself, go back inside or else there's going to be trouble."  
I noticed the duel disk on his arm. "I'll duel you to leave."  
"Sure, why not? Isn't like you're going to win." He walked back a bit and his disk extended.

"Since you were so polite, I'll take the first move." My eyes scanned my hand and I knew what I should do. "I summon Tuned Magician in attack mode, then set one card face down. Now on to you."

He drew his card with a grin. "First, I activate E-Emergency Call. It lets me add an Elemental Hero from my deck to my hand, and I choose Shadow Mist. Then, I summon her. I set two cards face down and end my turn."  
"I set a card and Tuned Magician is going to attack Shadow Mist!"

"I activate Hero Barrier, negating your attack." As the green beam got close to Shadow Mist, the hero brought her arms together and massive spinning blades appeared in front of her, blocking the attack.

"Fine. I end my turn."  
"I activate Mask Change, sending Shadow Mist to the graveyard to summon Masked Hero Dark Law. Then, I normal summon Elemental Hero Heat." The dark hero's mask shifted from her porcelain one into one resembling a lion, and her armor shifted as well, until a completely different hero stood in her place. A pillar of flames erupted from the space next to Dark Law, and the fiery hero stood next to him. "Heat, attack the magician and Dark Law, attack directly." The hero slammed a flaming fist into my magician, whose essence was absorbed by Dark Law, keeping him from entering my graveyard. Dark Law kept a hand open and launched a blast of darkness at me.

' _There's exactly three copies of a card that could save me in my deck.'_ I pulled my next card and my face dropped. "I guess I'm not getting my runner." I sighed. "I set another card and end my turn.

"I thought you Arcadia duelists were supposed to be good." The man said drawing a card and flinging his arm forward. "Elemental Hero Heat, burn him to a crisp!" The hero leapt forward with a flaming fist and launched a small fireball at me, losing me the duel. "Now head back inside before someone with more hate shows up." He pushed me in the direction of the building.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." I said, walking back inside with a sigh. Guess I need to make some more improvements.

* * *

The Flamvell monster was destroyed by the stronger flames of Phoenix Gearfried and the duelist sighed. "Fine, here." He handed me two synchro monsters, both Flamvell.

"Thanks." I said. I'd been dueling with a slightly changed up deck, and trying to get synchro monsters that could help me more for my duel against the Black Rose. I had bruises and cuts in a lot of places because psychic duelists were all that were in here. I also managed to get a few terraforming to get Catalyst Field sooner. My deck was almost dead in the water without that card.

"Ryan, glad to see you didn't chicken out." Divine said jokingly with someone standing next to him in a maroon dress with hair to match it.

"He's the one I'm dueling? He already looks worn out."  
"Then he'll be easy to beat, come on." Divine told her and jerked his head in the direction of the other side of the arena.

"Fine, this won't be long." Her red duel disk extended.

"I wouldn't be too sure." I said, taking the first turn. "First, I summon Crusader of Endymion and then set one card face down."

"With your summon, I activate Naturia Cosmobeet. I can special summon it whenever you would summon a monster." As an armored magician came through a portal behind me, a small plant grew out of the ground in front of the Black Rose.

"I end my turn." I said begrudgingly. If I had gone second, that beet wouldn't have lasted. I had given her an advantage.

"I activate The World Tree and Miracle Fertilizer." A massive tree and a large fertilizer sprayer appeared behind her. "I then set the rest of my hand. One monster, two in the back. I end my turn."  
"Awesome. I summon Dark Valkyria in attack mode. Then I activate the spell card, Unleash Your Power! This card allows my geminis to gain their effects now, at the cost of being flipped face down at the end of the turn." The crusader got his massive arm guards and Valkyria's wings glowed with a dark energy. "First, Valkyria, put a spell counter on yourself. Then use it to destroy her facedown." Dark energy flowed from Valkyria onto the card and it disintegrated, destroying the monster. "Next, Crusader, give her another counter to use." Energy flowed from one monster to the other as the crusader's arm guards grew larger. "And use that counter to destroy her second monster." Darkness poured off Valkyria once again and destroyed the beet that she special summoned on my turn. "Now, both of you, attack directly." Valkyria and the Crusader flew next to each other towards the Black Rose with their fists ready, they pounded her in the face. Or they would, if they were real in this duel. Her life points were reduced to 0 as I smirked. "Best duelist, huh?"

"He isn't a psychic duelist. None of his attacks hit me." Was all she said.

"He's… spotty." Divine told her. "Nice job, Ryan."


	6. Sayer

**Enjoy some antagonist time.**

"That boy can't be psychic. His monsters didn't even make a breeze around me." Akiza told me, not seeing what I had seen in the boy.

"Akiza, his monster is what did that to Betty. He has powers within him. We just have to figure out how he can control them."

"You could put him in the shocker like the other boy you brought in."

I tapped my chin thinking for a while before a smile grew on my face. "You know, word is going to spread pretty fast about you losing in just three turns to a kid with geminis. People are going to question if you're really the best Arcadia has to offer."

"I am! I'm the most powerful psychic duelist this organization has ever seen! You've told me that yourself!"  
"Well, nearly losing to that renaissance reject earlier today, and now losing in two turns to this boy is making me think you might be losing your edge. You need to keep your thorns sharp, Akiza."

"I know, Sayer. I will. It won't happen again." She said, lowering her head.

I patted her on the shoulder. "The important thing is that you go into the Fortune Cup and win it. Show those signers what you can do, and overcome the mark on your arm."

She looked up at me and nodded. She could do this. Maybe it would help if I brought Ryan along as part of the guard detail, so they could at least get used to each other.


End file.
